Afterglow
by Hildebrant
Summary: After the carnival, When all the fighting stops, the chance for loving begins.


**Afterglow**

**After filling my profile with too many depressing Mai hime fics, I decided to finally do something different and give Tate something that I've denied him for a long while now and that's a chance to be with Mai without any sorts of depressing bullshit or any other kind of trouble getting in the way. Anyways I don't own Mai Hime, it is owned by Sunrise and distributed by Bandai. Read and review, and on with the fic. **

_I don't want to call my friends_

_For they might wake me from this dream_

_And I can't leave this bed_

_Risk forgetting all that's been _

_Dido - Here With Me_

The sunlight poured into the room on the warm spring day. It was currently twelve o' clock in the afternoon. Lunch time was just rolling around, and the two inhabitants sharing the single person bed could care less about the outside world. It was the events of the outside world that had caused them so much trouble, kept them so far away from one another and put so many obstacles in front of them that all they wanted to do with the day was spend it in bed together. So far for the both of them, it was mission accomplished.

On the left side of the bed was the heroine of the carnival, Mai Tokiha. On the right side was Yuuichi Tate, the man she had to thank for saving her life and giving her the strength to stop the obsidian lord and to continue fighting on even after he disappeared right in front of her. Every hour since the two of them had been reunited, from the final battle up until when they both went to bed together she spent thanking her lucky stars that he was back. Strangely enough one of those stars was the Hime Star. Despite all the trouble it had brought down upon her, it was also the star that had brought the two of them together, and for that she was eternally grateful. Opening her eyes a bit, Mai let her hand cup the cheek of her still sleeping lover, and began to think of all the things that she knew of him. He wasn't a rich socialite like Reito or Shizuru, he wasn't the brightest student in the class likeYukino, but what he was, was, nice, relaxed, loyal, dependable, and when she was feeling down that one day in the rain, he became just who she wanted to be around, who she wanted to talk to, who she wanted to spend time with. He became everything to her.

They say that every little girl when they're growing up is always hoping that they'll be swept off their feet by prince charming at a fancy ball and live happily ever after like something out of a cinderella story. but for Mai it was enough that Yuuichi was the knight in shining armor that was willing enough to fight the evil Obsidian Lord even if all he had was a sword at his side and Kendo skills and not any fancy powers like she and her fellow Hime. That suited her just fine. Yuuichi was okay just as he was, because that was how he was when he spoke to her in the rain, the way he broke her out of Sister Yukariko's trance, and it was how he was when he came to her rescue during the final showdown with the Obsidian Lord.

Mai also couldn't help but think back to the Ferry that brought them here in the first place, and how he stared at her chest, more or less exposed in a soaking wet t-shirt. She hated him for that and hoped that she would never see him again for as long as she attended the academy. Her luck unfortunately didn't hold out as the two of them wound up sharing the same homeroom. Numerous other instances of his appearance he made included dropping by for a meal at Linden Bloom restaurant and asking for one of her smiles. Sarcastically of course. She made sure to respond in kind.

The next time they met was under much more different circumstances with her in the rain, finally crying and letting it all out, as all the painful memories she ever had came pouring back down to her, just like falling rain. She was grateful that he was the one who brought her back to reality. That seemed to be his specialty.

The next time she saw him, he was asking her to help perform a wedding ceremony and not leaving a good memory of his when she fed him a cake that put he and a few other unfortunate males in the hospital. She vowed to make that up to him one day. Some more unpleasant memories included her almost being kissed by Reito during the festival and Tate shouting to break it up.

She didn't miss the almost angry look on Reito's face but after the fun they shared the other night, she was more than happy that Yuuichi yelled when he last memory of him to come back to her was when he died, and faded away right before her just as she was to give him their first kiss. It would have broken anyone else, but even with Yuuichi gone, her feelings for him were still there and it was those very feelings that allowed her to keep fighting.

He once said to her that he was such a cool guy, albeit jokingly. For her his truly coolest moment came when he charged in, sword in hand and willingly fought Reito when he had the power of the Obsidian Lord flowing within him. He never backed down once and that alone set Mai's heart ablaze. Her beloved was back and fighting for her. What's more he shouted out loud for everyone to hear that he loved her.

The Carnival came to an end, the Orphans and the Childs vanished, and all that was left was to pick up the pieces and start life over as normal students in normal relationships, just as she liked it. Looking over she saw that he was beginning to stir and let one of his own hands cup the one she had let rest on his cheek. A calm smile graced his features as he looked at her and saw her smiling back at him.

"How long have you been awake?" Yuuichi asked. "Longer than you lazy bones" Mai said back. That filled the room with a comfortable laughter from the both of them. "But that's okay. You did return to the Kendo club and now you're back to working your butt off to get back to championship level right?" Mai asked "That's right, and I'm gonna win that title this time, and no injuries are gonna stand in my way" Yuuichi said in a determined tone of voice. "Well better late than never" Mai said jokingly. "I just can't win with you can I?" Yuuichi said shaking his head from side to side in regards to his girlfriend's harsh words to him. "Sure you can, and here's your prize hero" Mai said. At that, she leaned in and let her lips rest on his. He willingly accepted her kiss, and let his mouth shift positions so that the pleasant sensation could deepen between the two of them. Mai may have unwillingly given her first kiss to Mikoto, but as of last night and every night to come, all of her kisses belonged to him.

Moving apart due to the lack of oxygen, Mai decided to prod her boyfriend's mind for some information on a particular incident she caught him in awhile back. "So, would you care to explain why you were in that restaurant in that mixed date?" Mai said, looking into Yuuichi's eyes while resting her head on her propped up hand. Not wanting to lie to her about anything else and proving that he was no longer the type to run from anymore, he spoke. "One of the guys in the group was a newbie and was really nervous about meeting new girls and asked if I could come along to give him some moral support and come to help him out" Yuuichi explained. "You did tell him that you had a girlfriend already right?" Mai asked, somewhat angrily. She didn't want her man to think she was going to go easy on him even if they were together.

"Yes I did, so anytime the other girls made any advances I told them I was already spoken for. By a tough, beautiful, talented, wonderful, graceful, amazing..." "Flattery will get you nowhere honey" Mai said putting a finger to Yuuichi's lips, cutting off his tirade of kissing up to her. "I still can't win with you can I?" Yuuichi asked again. "You won me" Mai said. "That's exactly how I want it to stay too" Yuuichi said as he wrapped his arms around Mai and let her relocate herself so that she lay on top of his chest. Yuuichi then placed a kiss onto her forehead before letting his head fall back onto his pillow.

"So, any plans on making this all up to me?" Mai asked. "I was thinking that we could go back to that restaurant, just you and me, a candlelit dinner for two and no one else around" Yuuichi said, hoping Mai would say yes. "Are you saying you would prefer someone else's cooking over mine? Mai said. This time she was only going to tease him, just to see what kind of a reaction she could get out of him. She had fought with him enough from all the way back on the ferry to pulling him out of the restaurant by his ear. It was time to have a little fun with him. "Fine then, I'll cook us up a meal, hope you like eating Ramen out of a coffee-maker" Tate said, with a joking overtone in his voice. "Ha Ha Ha Tate, very funny" Mai said chastising him and his smart ass remark to her question. It seemed like Tate wasn't going to back down from her prodding and poking. That was fine. She saw how Akane and Kazu acted around one another. It was somewhat nauseating, even for her to see a couple that obsessed with each other's company. However, there was one thing the two couples had in common. "I love you, Yuuichi" Mai said to her boyfriend. Smiling back, he spoke. "I love you too, Mai" That was all she needed to hear from him and that was all he would say to her in the comfort of the bed they had shared for the past twelve hours.

Yuuichi was prepared to speak again, when he saw how Mai had shut her eyes and drifted off to a soft slumber next to him, her head just centimeters away from his. Finding himself being lulled to sleep by her soft breathing, Smiling, Tate let his lips rest on her forehead and wrapped one of his arms around her, pulling her in closer to him as sleep soon overtook the both of them, letting the both of them drift off

**Well there it is, read and review.**


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